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Understanding and Improving Search using Large-Scale Behavioural Data

Over the last decade, the rise of web services has made it possible to gather traces of human behaviour in situ at a scale and fidelity previously unimaginable. This talk highlights how observational logs provide a rich new lens onto the diversity of searchers, tasks, and interactivity that characterize information systems today, and how experimental logs have revolutionized the way in which web-based systems are designed and evaluated. Although logs provide a great deal of information about what people are doing, they provide little insight about why they are doing so or whether they are satisfied. Complementary methods from observations, laboratory studies and panels are necessary to provide a more complete understanding of and support for search, which is increasingly a core fabric of people’s everyday lives.

The accompanying PDF file shows the slides presented by Dr Dumais. The MP3 file is a video of the whole afternoon event, starting with introductions to Tony Kent and his projects before continuing to the Lecture from Dr Dumais.